Whale and shark activity sends Chainlink (LINK) above $29 for the first time in 37 months

Chainlink (LINK) recently surpassed the $29 mark for the first time in 37 months. Over the past week, the native token of the decentralized oracle network recorded a 21% gain.

As a result, LINK has become one of the best-performing altcoins in recent weeks.

Whales and sharks swallow LINK

The increase is largely due to a significant increase in the accumulation of whales and sharks, according to Santiment’s latest analysis.

In the last two months, wallets with 100,000 LINK or more have added 5.69 million tokens, while wallets with less than 100,000 LINK have reduced their positions by 5.67 million tokens. Historically, these patterns (where large wallets accumulate coins from impatient or panicked retail traders) often indicate future growth.

However, the success of Chainlink and other large-cap altcoins still depends on Bitcoin’s ability to maintain its momentum, the on-chain crypto analytics platform said in its recommendations. If Bitcoin continues to hold steady, there are strong indications that patient LINK holders will see long-term rewards.

The recent price increase can also be attributed, in part, to World Liberty Financial’s $1 million purchase of LINK, which increased its holdings to $2 million. Backed by the Trump family, the platform also holds significant amounts of Aave’s AAVE, with LINK now its fourth largest holding after Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC), and Tether (USDT). World Liberty Financial uses Chainlink services for essential price data and cross-chain interoperability.

LINK Futures OI hits all-time high

This increase in value also coincided with a notable increase in futures open interest (OI). According to Glassnode, this figure has hit an all-time high of $770.27 million, indicating a massive rebound in business activity.

There has also been significant profit-taking in the spot market, with $35.57 million in profits realized, making it the second largest profit-taking event of the year, behind only $40.39 million. February 11 dollars. This activity was predominantly driven by speculative market participants, with 15.3% of profits taken by ultra-short-term holders (1d-1w) and 22.5% by short-term holders (3-6m).

Despite the profit-taking, LINK fundamentals are showing positive signs, with active addresses trending up, indicating continued interest and future growth potential, although still below the 2021 peak.